Brandon arrived tip. He stayed a few seconds staring at Kel's house and trying to tidy up his mind. He had been late in the office arguing with Barret. Johnson had made other names including two councillors, Bean and Salisburin; piloted procurement, millions of dollars reversed by public accounts. They had immersed themselves in a furious job. The entire system for the public construction of L.A. could jump and with it also people very close to the governor.

It was still unclear what Johnson wanted. Because he didn't talk to the police and why he chose him. He hadn't asked him but it was his intention to get to the bottom.

He walked in Kelly's driveway with two bottles of a great Bordeaux cut he had discovered in a chic London restaurant, on the basis of the suggestions given to Brenda by JT. He had ordered and Betty had delivered to him on the same day. Being a boss had its advantages. He heard the voice of her calling Sammy back to the kitchen. He had never really thought about the impact that baby would have on him. Dylan and Kelly's son.

Kel opened the door even before ringing.

"Hey, I heard the car"

He kissed her on the cheek.

"Come on"

Kel was always a beautiful woman. She had softly collected blonde hair and a thread of shiny lips.

The jeans and white sweater she wore let her elegant shapes shine through.

Sammy appeared in front of him shyly. He had the same shape as Dylan's eyes, but the cheerfulness inside and expression tasted like Kelly, whom he knew very well. That child was familiar. More than he would ever have expected.

They shook hands like two nice men.

"The wine," he said, handing the bottles to her.

Kel smiled.

Brandon looked around. The choice of furnishings made Kelly's taste and organization shine through.

Sammy was still tempting his ted baskets.

"Heavy day?" Kel asked him.

"Enough," he replied by taking off his jacket.

The table in the garden was carefully set. The matching of colors, the choice of shapes.

"You've always been good at these things," he said.

"In what?"

"In making things simpler beautiful"

Brandon unpeated the wine and poured it for both of them.

"Ah .. I have to go and help him, a man should never be alone in his first baskets" Brandon said watching Sam.

Kelly looked in the same direction as Brandon.

Sports, basketball. Sammy and his free throws.

Brandon approached the little one by rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

"Okay boy, if you want we can do some shots together"

"That's the point, I can't."

"What what... of course you can do, basketball boy.." he lowered his face closer to Sammy's and placing his fingers on the ball " it's a matter of concentration, of visualization; look at the Sammy basket, not the ball, the basket.. now pulls"

The ball got up... light..

Kel was watching the shot... the ball slipped into the basket.

"'Bang!" Brandon shouted.

"Bang!" Sammy repeated

Sam was so happy.

"Do you want to try again?"

"Yes"

Sammy recovered the ball and got closer to Brandon. The two faces were very close enough to cause pain to Kelly. A dull and distant pain from many years before.

"Don't even let yourself, Sammy," Brandon whispered, "to say you can't do anything, fix your fingers, go"

"Bang!"

Brandon came back to his wine, to Kelly, and watched Sammy from afar now exalted by the results. Sporadic but still results.

"I think you made his day!"

"I love basketball. I love sports in general."

"Yes, I remember that," she said instinctively.

"Yeah" he smiled.

Sammy went back to the table.. and Brandon took care of the barbecue. They laughed several times. They talked about simple things. His children's speeches followed, the still uncertain and crooked words. Every now and then Kel looked at Brandon's profile while he didn't look.

"Did you hear the news?" She asked him.

Brandon wasn't sure of the answer.

"Valerie is coming back"

"Yes," he laughed, "I knew, at least look at the bright side"

"And what would be B?"

"We don't all live together anymore"

Kel laughed "right"

Brandon got serious "what years those."

"Do you mean terrible?"

"Ah ha, no no, they were beautiful years, the beginnings are always wonderful, we didn't have the faintest idea what to do with us. But we were together. We were happy without knowing it"

"Yeah," she replied. She looked at the time and called Sammy back.

"In bed, now it's late"

Kel took him in her arms and took him away.

"Bang!" So Sammy greeted Brandon.

He fell asleep easily. Exhausted.

"A beautiful evening, right?" Kel asked for her return.

"" wonderful."

They poured other wine.

Kel didn't let much pass "Brenda and Dylan are in Ecuador"

"I know," he replied distractedly, drinking a sip "they must have called us at the same time," they laughed.

She couldn't stop watching him, trying to steal his secrets. Brandon's invincibility no longer seemed so intact, yet he still smelled white.

"Are you happy?" She asked him.

"Happiness is overrated Kel, I did what I wanted to do. I did it every day with the same passion. That's how it is for me. I'm calm," he turned to her. Now that she was no longer looking and staring at the wine in the glass.

"Ahh Kel," he resumed, "you've always had this place inside you, inaccessible to anyone, this sad smile that suits you as much, as much as the joy that explodes in your eyes when you are happy.

"I missed you," she said without warning.

"Me too," he replied.

"I'm not the girl you left anymore"

"I noticed"

She got up and sat next to him.

SHe leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Now we should know how to kiss each other and go make love."

"I think so too"

They laughed.

"This is the thing I missed the most about you," she said

"What?"

"The fact that my head fits perfectly into your arms"

"What they never understood about us is exactly that"

They laughed again.

Kel and Brandon let those minutes slip between the two of them, telling each other as much as possible about the places seen, the people they met, a hunger to tell every single day when one was not close to the other.

Brandon told her about the war in Afghanistan, about how between boss and neck they had sent him there to be a war envoy.

"Did you get scared?"

"Every single day," he replied, looking at her.

He had no defenses and he had no intention of having them.

"One day I was following a patrol. We stopped at Herat. It was a very hot day. There seemed to be no one around. Only children. Kids like Sammy playing on the street with makeshift toys. Four axes tied by a twine.

There was a little girl. Crow hair. Green eyes. A perfect face. She was sitting on the sidelines and holding a doll in her arms. SHe cuddled the doll and sang a baby song. I took a picture of her. And she smiled at me. They warned me not to leave money because the kids would arrive as grasshoppers. She made me realize that she wanted a pen and a notebook. Nothing else. I took a couple that I kept in my pocket. And I gave her my notebook. SHe smiled again. Then it was hell. A moment later the Taliban opened fire. We managed to fix it. The military responded to the fire. When it all ended, the little girl was on the ground. In a pool of blood. Along with other children. Without mercy. I don't even know her name"

Kel looked at him desold by the deep way he had told her a simple story.

Brandon smiled "war brings out the worst of people, but it also gives you a lot"

"Like what?"

"The value of time," he replied, "the value of luck we have. Being born in this or that part of the world is just luck. There are no merits for that."

Anyway," Brandon resumed, "I've also seen wonderful places. I traveled around Europe. I have been in front of beautiful lakes. Set in the middle of nowhere. Two skies touching each other. And snowy mountains. And markets full of people"

"I would have liked to be there too"

Brandon turned to her "you were there"

Kel looked at him as if he rediscovered a Brandon who was never too far from her again.

SHe put her lips close to his. Slowly. Nothing was more the same since that moment. It was as if the embankments of a river had broken. Brandon's years of waiting while remaining on the sidelines were wiped out by her curious hands above her.

He found the centimeters of skin so familiar, looking for them furiously under her shirt.

Inside her pants.

"Mom" Sammy's voice stopped there. Like a wall.

Kelly broke from him.

"He woke up"

"Yeah"

"I have to go"

"I know"

"Tomorrow you will call me or you will disappear "

"I'll call you"

" Valerie arrives"

He laughed. Let's drmatize right.

SHe kissed him.

"Thank you for the wonderful evening Mrs Taylor"

"Thank you Mr Walsh"

An old trick.